Co-Leads

tânisi kiyawâw (greetings to you all). I am maskēkow-ininiw (Swampy Cree) and Scottish-Canadian and anēhinawēwin/nēhiyawēwin/nēhithawīwin language learner and language warrior. My Cree family is from Norway House and Cross Lake in northern Manitoba. I was born and raised in northern Saskatchewan and have been a grateful visitor in SENĆOŦEN and Lekwungen speaking territories for over 20 years. I completed a PhD in Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia in 2012. My dissertation îkakwiy nihiyawiyân: I am learning [to be] Cree explored the largely understudied area of adult Indigenous language learning.  During this time, I was also the Director of Indigenous Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria (UVic) from 2008 and 2017, where I helped to develop and oversaw interdisciplinary, community-based Indigenous-language revitalization undergraduate and graduate certificate, diploma and degree programs.

As an Associate Professor of Indigenous Education in the Department of Indigenous Education at UVIC, I teach, supervise graduate students and contribute in both the undergraduate and graduate programs in Indigenous language revitalization. My current areas of research span the fields of Indigenous language revitalization, immersion and bilingual education, sociocultural language learning, additional language acquisition, Indigenous education, and Indigenous health and well-being. As a co-lead on this SSHRC Partnership Grant project, I am working to support and enhance collective understanding of the unique aspects of adult Indigenous language learning in the national and diverse context of the land now known as Canada.
View Dr. McIvor’s publications
View Dr. McIvor’s Curriculum Vitae
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Ha7lh Skwáyel (greetings). Tiná7 chen tkwa Wiwiḵ’em (I come from the Squamish Nation village, Wiwiḵ’em, near Brackendale, BC). Galuła̱n lax̱ Tsax̱is (I am also from the Kwaguł village of Tsax̱is, Fort Rupert, BC). My MA thesis was on subordinate clauses in the Sḵwx̱wu7mesh snichim (the Squamish language). My Ph.D. dissertation was on the syntax and semantics of agent control constructions in Sḵwx̱wu7mesh.

I worked for over 25 years at the Squamish Nation in language revitalization of the Sḵwx̱wu7mesh snichim, the language of my father’s side of my family. I also conduct research on Kwak’wala, the language of my mother’s side of my family. I taught at the University of Victoria before teaching at Simon Fraser University, where I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics.

At the Squamish Nation, I was co-applicant for SSHRC Aboriginal Research grant. I was also the editor-in-chief for the Sḵwx̱wu7mesh Snichim-Xweliten Snichim Sḵexwts (Squamish-English Dictionary). At the University of Victoria, I was co-investigator on a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant with Dr. Onowa McIvor, where we investigated adult language learners in the Mentor-Apprentice Program (MAP) and other MAP-like programs in B.C. As the NEȾOLṈEW̱ co-principal investigator, I am excited to be working alongside with Partners from 9 First Nations communities across Canada.